A. of Calcutta University?"
"Yes; he was called Narain Dass," replied Fred. "We spoke to him, you
recollect, Major? He talked excellent English of the _babu_ sort."
"What has happened to him?"
"I don't know. He disappeared a short time ago. Deserted, I suppose, though
I don't see why he should. He was getting on well here."
Dermot smiled grimly and touched the cord and spectacles.
"The man who wore these, who led the Bhuttias in the raid, was Narain
Dass."
These was a moment's amazed silence in the room. Then a hubbub arose, and
there was a chorus of exclamations and questions.
"Good Heavens, is it possible, Major? He appeared to be such a decent,
civil chap," exclaimed Daleham.
"His face seemed familiar to me, as he lay dead on the ground," replied
Dermot. "I couldn't place him, though, until I found the spectacles. I put
them on his nose, and then I knew him. His hair was cropped close, he was
wearing Bhuttia clothes, but it was Narain Dass, the University graduate
who was working as a coolie for a few _annas_ a day."
"And he had eight hundred and fifty rupees on him," added the young
engineer.
"Yes; and if all the Bhuttias had as much as the one shot that meant over
two thousand."
"Where did they get it?"
"Who is behind all this?"
"The seditionists, of course," said an elderly planter.
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